Stuck
by KNic19
Summary: My first fan fiction, this is Divergent from Four's POV. I know, I know, it's been done a million times already, but he has been running around in my head screaming to get his story out. Rated T because, well, it is Dauntless after all.


**Thank you for taking the time to read this and taking a chance on my first Fan Fiction. Thank you to Veronica Roth for letting us play in her world. Everything about this is her creation, I'm just having a little fun with it.**

Chapter 1

Choosing Day. The day the sixteen-year-olds pick the faction in which they will live out their days…or so they hope. A chance to change out of a faction they don't fit in to. Or, for some, a chance to get away. No. I will not go down that path. Not today at least.

For me, this day is once again a beginning of sorts; the beginning of the end. The end of fending off Max' job offers. The end of Eric's brutality. The end of dealing with Dauntless adrenaline junkies. Just one more initiate class and I'm out of here. I will go off to join Them. They will take me in – She'll make Them. But again, this is not the time for that.

"Four!" Oh man, I was zoning out again. How is it that nobody has caught on to the fact that I'm half out the door? I feel as if I'm barely with it half the time. I look around to see who is calling me.

"What?" I snap at Lauren, a little too sharply, and I instantly feel sorry. Fortunately this isn't Erudite. They would have figured out something is up with me long ago. But this is Dauntless, and sometimes we are a bit sharp. Nobody takes it too personally, or looks too deep into the reasons behind it. She points up and I focus on listening.

I can just make out Max' voice all those stories up. He's trying to appeal to the initiates' pride to get them to jump off the ledge. I'm amazed he isn't trying to scare them into jumping, but I suspect the jump from the train caused enough fear to satisfy even someone as sadistic as Max. Fear and Dauntless are an interesting mix. You can't give in to your fears here, yet you get much more face to face with them than you would elsewhere. More Dauntless mentality that I will soon be leaving…just a few more weeks.

I flash back to my first jump off the ledge. I was scared breathless. It was high, much too high for my liking. I waited, not the first to jump, but definitely not the last. I couldn't be the last. I was already at a disadvantage due to where I came from. I couldn't show them just how big a coward I was. Not on the first day.

I hear different sounds now, calls and whistles. It would seem that Max has finally shut his trap and the first initiate must be getting ready to jump. I look up and a shadow appears in the middle of the light pouring down the hole and onto the net, like a spotlight into which the initiates will emerge. The excitement pouring off my fellow Dauntless grows with the shadow, until even I catch it. This is why I chose to stay to train the initiates. Truly it is exciting to watch them push past personal limits they didn't even know they had.

The initiate lands in the net and I nearly pass out. In those last moments after the initiate drops through the ceiling, I think my eyes are playing tricks with me. Do I really see Abnegation gray? Panic seizes me for a moment. Will this person recognize me? But I realize I should be pretty safe. I never fit in there, never joined in with the community. Plus, who would expect a former Abnegation to be a trainer here?

As she, that laugh is most definitely female, collects herself, I stretch my hand out to help her down. I see the others stretch their hands out to help her too, but I push further, insistent that my hand is the one she grabs. I see that she has already stripped off her outer shirt, which as far as the Abnegation are concerned, makes her practically naked. There is no way this girl would have survived a lifetime in Abnegation. With guts like hers, it's a wonder she made it to sixteen without going crazy and running away.

She grabs my hand and I help pull her to the edge of the net, onto her feet. I hold her arms for just a moment too long, aware that this is probably more physical contact than she has had in the past month in Abnegation, but I'm determined to not let her fall just yet. She has enough of a handicap to work past in training, coming from Abnegation; being the first to jump won't erase that. I can't let her look any weaker in her first moments in Dauntless. Plus she is tiny. Even with her apparent bravery, it will be amazing if she survives the first round, let alone make it through training.

"Can't believe it" Lauren says from behind me. "A Stiff, the first to jump? Unheard of."

"There's a reason why she left them, Lauren" I say, and pray to God that it isn't the same reason I left. At the same time, I'm glad that Lauren is the one to voice that opinion. It could have come out much crueler from some of the other Dauntless that surround us. "What's your name?" I ask her, wondering if I'll recognize it.

"Um…" she hesitates, and I realize that I won't recognize her name. Not the one she's going to tell me anyway. But hey, who am I to blame someone for hiding their real name. Nobody here knows mine.

"Think about it," I say feeling a smile tug at my lips. "You don't get to pick again". A smile? Really? Pull yourself together Tobias. However, I have to admit, she intrigues me. She is not like any other Abnegation I've ever met.

"Tris" she says, sounding very sure of herself. Lauren repeats the name, smiling. She likes this girl's spunk. "Make the announcement Four", Lauren tells me.

I look at the Dauntless spread out around us, knowing that as long as Tris makes it past initiation, she'll fit in just fine here. "First jumper – Tris!" I announce, and she is welcomed, like only the Dauntless can welcome a person. Amazingly, she doesn't flinch at the noise, so unlike the quiet world she left.

A scream announces the next jumper, and Tris' moment is up. "Welcome to Dauntless" I tell her, guiding her towards the edge of the platform. I can't help it, I put my hand to her back, again knowing that I've probably already passed her limits of personal space helping her off the net. Now it's my turn not to flinch as a jolt travels up through my arm and right down my spine. What was that all about?

As the remaining initiates and then the members who went to the ceremony enter one by one, I find my mind wandering back to Tris. What made her leave Abnegation, and come here, out of all the factions? I know one thing for sure. These next few weeks will be interesting.


End file.
